Privatisation policy lacks transparency: Siraj

LAHORE

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has said JI is against nationalisation of private industries and privatisation of state owned institutions. 

Addressing a central working committee of National Labour Federation (NLF) at Mansoora on Tuesday, the JI ameer said the government had no right to take over private property of any individual nor to hand over the national institutions to any individual. He said in the past when government took over private industries, etc, JI had strongly opposed this unconstitutional act. Similarly, he said, JI was now opposing privatisation of national institutions and handing them over to the rulers’ cronies on throw away prices.

He termed privatisation of major national institutions including PIA, Pakistan Steel and others mala fide and outright tyranny. He said instead of bringing the institutions in working order through improved management, the government thought an easy solution in privatisation which would fill up their own pockets as well. He said the sell-off of PIA and Pakistan Steel would be a colossal loss to national economy and JI would never allow that.

He urged the masses to join JI drive against corruption in order to stop the rulers from taking such decisions against national interest. He said Pakistan Railways had been salvaged through a better management and PIA and Pakistan Steel could also be brought on sound footing with the cooperation of their workers.

Sirajul Haq said the government’s privatisation policy lacked transparency. Rulers were including profit earning institutions among sick units only to befool the masses. He said the government was intentionally keeping nation and parliament in the dark on privatisation deals.

JI ameer said the workers of the institutions were not being taken in confidence on privatisation which proved that the process lacked transparency. He said thousands of workers working in these institutions were affected by these decisions. He said no government in the world would ignore workers while taking such important decisions but unfortunately Pakistani rulers thought it an insult to talk to the workers.

Meanwhile, in a letter to KP CM, Siraj called upon the KP government to hold students unions’ elections in the province to allow the youth the right to elect their leadership. He said national leadership in Senate was unanimously in support of affording the union right to the students as a ban on student unions was against the constitution and the law. He said student unions’ activity would provide the best way to curb extremism and KP government should take lead in this respect.